Tabula Rasa
by Yumi Rukawa
Summary: *Final part up! ^^* Ru is lost, everthing's a mess, Haru and Mit decide to run toghether and Hana just can't keep his head off the baka kitsune... What if he is too late to get back the love of his life? (yaoi)[HanaRu](MitKo/a little MitHaru ^^ /SenKosh!)
1. Default Chapter

**I don't own Slam Dunk nor any of its characters, so please, don't sue me (I have nothing to give so you wouldn't be able to take anything from me… T_T.) 

**Tabula Rasa was taken from Buffy The vampire Slayers series, I didn't invent it either. That's it. I wan't to dedicate this fiction to my brother ^^ who is a BIG Buffy fan and thanks to whom I watched the Tabula Rasa chapter. Gu I love you~~~~!!!

Tabula Rasa [yaoi/ HanaRu-RuHana w/MitKo (s.story) MitHaru (lil'bit)]

Slam Dunk Fanfiction by Yumi Rukawa

**Part One**

Friday afternoon, Shohoku's gym:

"Minna!!" Ayako called her guys, at the end of an every-day training; "I've got great news for us today!!"

Everybody gathered around the pretty manageress. It was a new year at Shohoku. Akagi and Kogure had gone to university already, and Ryota was the new chosen captain (much to Hanamichi's dread). However, the red head hadn't entered the team yet, due to his column problem. Mitsui? He still had some time to go to leave school, as he hadn't done so well on the final exams…

"Listen, minna, I've heard from Haruko-chan that Hanamichi Sakuragi will be joining the team very soon, so I thought we could maybe organize something to celebrate, what do you think??"

"Party! All right!" Mitsui said, enthusiastically, "I know a friend that owns a bar where--"

"No way, senpai, Hanamichi has just had a very serious problem on the back, we're gonna keep it light, OK??"

"Okok, whatever…"

"Hey, what about going to that new roller coaster thingy that opened last month over here??" Ryota suggested. (They said they wanted to keep it light…?)

"You mean the Fun park?"

"Ya, kindda. I think Hanamichi'll like it"

"That doahou…"

"It ain't a bad idea… OK, so I'll ask Haruko-chan to tell him. What about this Saturday? It'll be great if we could ALL go. That includes you… Rukawa-kun"

"…whatever…"

"It's settled, then. Saturday at 11, at the door. Don't miss it, ok?!"

"Ok, team. End of today's training, go home" Ryota concluded, and with that everybody went home, except Rukawa, as Ayako called him for a word before he disappeared.

"Rukawa-kun, do be good to Hanamichi tomorrow, please? I mean, I know I can't actually keep you two from arguing like babies, but just try to be easy on him, k?"

Rukawa just stared blankly. 'Arguing like babies'?? He surely wasn't the baby of the duo, it was that darned doahou the one who kept opening his mouth no question.

"Ok, whatever" he repeated, as if he couldn't care less. However, he was kindda excited Hanamichi was rejoining the team. Everything had turned so boring since he wasn't there; the newcomers where dumb and useless, no point in bothering them. And Mitsui and Miyagi were out of question, as well as Yasuda, Shiozaki and Co. It _had_ to be Hanamichi.

"Ok, go home. But I have your word you will be there, right? Hanamichi will just freak out when he sees you there, he he he" she laughed, to Rukawa's surprise. What _is _going on with this lady?! With that, he went home.

On the way home, he really though a great deal about the red headed doahou. When was the last time he had seen him? Someday back on the beach, yap. He remembered the face he had pulled when he showed him the Japan T-shirt he had won. Of course back then Hanamichi had said he had _let Rukawa win_, adding he was a tensai. That stupid baka, he could be so annoying if he really ment to. Whatever Ayako wanted him to go to this fun park, anyway? 'Damned women, they're all freaks, now I know what keeps me from getting a girlfriend…' he thought.

************

At Sakuragi's 

*the phone is ringing*

"Mom!! Answer the phone, I'm upstairs!!"

Nobody answered, but the phone kept on ringing like crazy.

"Dammit! MOM!"

No answer again, and Hanamichi had to rush downstairs to get the call.

"Moshi moshi…" he answered, roughly.

"Sakuragi-kun??"

The voice on the other side of the line sounded sweet and girly-like. Hanamichi immediately recognized it and went into 'I'm-so-in-love-mode', little hearts spreading about him everywhere.

"Haruko-san!!" he smiled.

"Genki desu ka, Sakuragi-kun? I've told the team you'll be coming back soon and we have decided to go somewhere with you to celebrate, what do you think?"

"Great, oh, Haruko-san, you are so good!!" he said, staring at the imaginary Haruko that had appeared on the wall. This meant he could probably spend some time alone with his Haruko-san, without that stupid kitsune near to ruin everything, "So, when and were?"

"Um, we thought about the new fun park. Ayako said it would be a good idea, and I thought it would be nice of the whole team to agree. And, oh, the time is Saturday, at 11 am".

"Whatever you say, Haruko-san… wait, what do you mean the _whole_ team?? Don't tell me kitsune otoko will go too?!"

"Yes, everybody!"

Hanamichi's hopes of an evening alone with Haruko-san faded away unhappily as some tears begun coming down his cheeks. WHY?! Why did that stupid fox always had to be around him no matter what, when or how?! Was he _that_ bad heaven had to punish him in that way?!

"Ok, Haruko-san. I'll be there" he concluded, giving up. Maybe it was just destiny, but off course a tensai like him wouldn't have to bother for minor problems like Rukawa. He would manage to get the kitsune out of the way anyhow.

But just like that Hanamichi couldn't get his mind off Rukawa the whole afternoon, no matter how hard he tried. He kindda missed the kitsune, even though he wouldn't notice, or at least wouldn't _want_ to notice, not even if his life depended on it.

Saturday arrived soon. It was a fair and good day. Sun shone, birds sung, everything was just perfect. 

At Ayako's, 10 am 

Haruko had stayed at the manageress for the night, as their plan of receiving Sakuragi went further than a simple day at the fun park. They would do him a really really BIG favor; make him friend of Rukawa.

"Um… are you sure this will be OK, Ayako-san?" asked Haruko, shyly. The two girls were in front of Ayako's chimney, a little 'special' fire burning in it.

"Off course, don't worry, Haruko. After I work my magic on this two guys, they'll act as if they had been friends all of their lives. It will be a great advantage for the team, you know? You saw what it was like at the match with Sannoh… they're such a powerful combination, but the fact they hate each other doesn't really help at all… pass me the Bramble flowers, please."

Ayako actually had some magic knowledge, as one of her aunts was a real witch (well, who knows!). Haruko couldn't believe it the first time she heard it, but when Ayako showed her what kind of stuff she kept in her kitchen, Haruko totally bought it.

The small girl passed the flowers.

"So what are these for, anyway?"

"I'm casting a spell on those two, I told you. If this works, they'll forget they hate each other and be friends. Here, pass me that crystal and place those flowers over the fire… you ready?"

Haruko nodded while she placed a small cherry tree flower and a mapple tree leave in the fire (in case you haven't noticed, 'Sakuragi' means 'cherry tree' and 'Kaede' 'Mapple tree'). 

"To Sakuragi-kun and Rukawa-kun" Haruko said.

"Ok, here we go," Ayako said. She took hold of the crystal and put the Bramble flowers together with the other things in the fire, while she chanted:

_For Hanamichi and Kaede this I char,_

_Lethe's Bramble do its chore._

_Purge their minds of memories grim_

_Of pains from recent slights and sins…_

_When the fire goes out,_

_When the crystal turns black,_

_The spell will be cast._

_Tabula rasa,_

_Tabula rasa,_

_Tabula rasa._

The fire turned slightly green and then made a little explosion, burning the leaves and flowers rapidly.

"That should do. Now I must take this crystal with me and when they are left alone…"

"Wait, what do you mean, _alone_?"

"Well, alone. The two of them, nobody around… you know, _alone_. Never mind, I've already spoken this with Ryota and Mitsui, and they agreed to help. Now let's get going or we'll miss the bus, come on!"

They rushed to get their stuff, but they couldn't notice a little spark from the green fire getting out of the chimney, right into the little bag where they kept the sakura flowers and maple tree leaves they had gathered, burning the whole of them.

Fun park's entrance, 10:50 

The whole team was already there; even Akagi and Kogure had come. Hanamichi had arrived first, together with Ryota and Mitsui. Everybody was congratulating a very happy Hana who was wearing a big tensai smile on his face. Only Rukawa was missing.

That baka, Hanamichi thought. He was probably doing this on purpose just to bother him.

Ayako grunted. That kid had _promised_ he would go. 

"Don't put that face, Aya-chan. He probably fell asleep or something. You know that guy" said Ryota.

"I'll kill him if he misses this, I SWEAR!".

"Don't, here he comes" pointed Mitsui. Everybody turned their faces towards a small bicycle approaching the place. There he was, Kaede Rukawa. Half asleep but looking kind of on a hurry.

"I'm… I'm sorry, I think I ran over somebody on my way here…big problem…" he apologized when he came near Ayako. She was the only person he ever said 'sorry' to. Ayako didn't hear, anyway, she was too amazed staring at how Rukawa had dressed himself that day. And she had a good reason too; Rukawa just looked gorgeous in his black jeans and the blue shirt over his raven turtle-neck T-shirt. Hanamichi wasn't very pleased with her and Haruko staring at him like idiots, though.

"What's with the clothes, we ain't going to a party, you know? And I don't reckon Smiley is anyway near, in case you hoped you would see him here…" he provoked.

Rukawa gave Hanamichi a freezing glare.

"Your clothes sucking doesn't mean mine also have to" he stated, plainly.

Hanamichi freaked off, as Rukawa had predicted. Mitsui and Ryota caught him before he could do anything.

"TEME~~~~E KITSUNE!!!" he raged.

*STUNK!* Hanamichi backed off with a very painful Gori punch on his head.

"Let's go, you baka" Akagi said, and they all entered. 

**************

First thing they did was look for a map or something, as there were a lot of attractions and they didn't want to miss them, so they planned their day there. Ayako, Kogure and Akagi were dealing with this, while Rukawa and Hanamichi kept on arguing and Mitsui discussed with Ryota the best way of leaving them alone. The other members were over there too (yeah, lets just suppose they were having fun, ok?).

"I say lets get them together on some roller coaster…"

"That things go too fast. Aya-chan's spell won't work there"

"Hm, I don't think they'll agree on getting together on the tunnel of love…"

"Maybe we should just lock them in the bathroom"

"Nyeh he he, I'd _pay_ to see them locked up alone in a bathroom!"

"Mitsui, please, focus!!"

"Ok, I'm sorry… what about the mirror house? It's big, they'll get lost in there… they'll have to figure a way out and they can become friends in no time" Mitsui smiled, though his head was still on some Superdeformed Hana and Ru fighting in the bathroom.

"Hmm… it's not a bad idea… That will be then… but how--"

"Easy, we'll make groups of two, I'll go with Kogure, you can go with Ayako and Akagi won't let his beloved sister go with any of the other two freaks, so…" he added, matter-of-factly.

"But what if Haruko asks Rukawa first?"

"You really think _Rukawa_ will accept??"

"It's settled then, I'll tell Aya-chan" Ryota grinned. The only idea sounded so fun he wouldn't miss the chance of seeing the two guys actually trying to be _friends_ with each other.

While they talked, Ru and Hana were obviously throwing daggers at each other. Hana had made a stupid comment to Haruko and Rukawa couldn't help a little 'doahou' escape from his lips, to which Hana threw a very audible 'goddamed kitsune!' and then they got into a catfight again. Haruko was getting rather nervous but she dared not get involved.

"Why did you have to come, anyway?! This is _my_ welcome celebration, you don't need to be here as _I_ don't like _you_ at all, kitsune!"

"The only reason I came is Ayako asked me to, doahou"

"Well, nobody wants you here, asshole, go home!"

"Make me go if you dare, freak"

"Grr! Rukawa!!!". For some reason, today they were arguing higher and a lot more than usually. Maybe it was the fact it's been a lot since the last time they saw each other, but they surely were getting on everybody's nerves. Especially the gorilla's.

"Doahou" he repeated, and turned around, moving towards a little fountain over there. Just then Hanamichi though he had this wonderful idea… as he saw the kitsune sit down at one of the borders, turning his back at him.

Meanwhile, Ayako had already finished organizing the day.

"Ok, team! Listen, this is what--"

She was interrupted by a *SPLASH* sound, and a very confused Rukawa falling into the fountain, thanks to the fast red head that managed to push the kitsune into the fountain and avoid falling with him into the water.

"NYA~~~~~~HAHAHAHA!!!!" he laughed, while Rukawa coughed and swore from the water and tried to get out the fountain, "I'm sorry, I think I tripped with something, nyahahahahaha!!!"

That was it, Hanamichi had really reached Rukawa's patience limit; he was fed up and had had _enough_. A very wet and upset Rukawa stood up from the water and looked at Hanamichi, death in his eyes. If looks could kill, Hanamichi would have been six foot underground by then.

"What? I said I tripped, I'm sorry" Hanamichi defended himself, pulling a very fake innocent face, tensai smile on his lips. Rukawa gave him the worst glare he had even given anyone, breathing hardly. _You will suffer, doahou, I will take my revenge_, he thought, _but not now_. After all, he had promised Ayako.

Next thing Hana knew, Ayako's paper fan was on his head, together with one of Gori's fists.

At the bathroom, 5 minutes later 

Rukawa was trying to get himself dry. His hands were trembling and he suddenly felt like bursting to tears. Why was the doahou treating him like that, all of a sudden? I mean, they had never gotten along very well, but today Hanamichi had really made him feel insulted. It had been so much since the last time they had seen each other, yet Rukawa couldn't think of any other reason the red head could have to treat him like that. _He_ hadn't done anything bad, that he new.  

He looked at himself in the mirror and saw a little tear run down his cheek.

A tear.

It had been many years since the last time he had cried, and now he was feeling the urgent need to do it though his cold heart couldn't understand why.

A slamming-door sound instantly woke him up from his day dreaming and he wiped the tear away, impulsively.

"Rukawa-kun, are you OK?"

"I'll be there in a minute, Ayako-san" he said in his typical monotony. He took in a deep breath, and fixing his wet hair (well, at least he tried) he went with his other teammates.

Outside, somewhere in the park 

"So, this is the plan. We'll try to be organized so we don't get messed up, ok? This is a big place and if anybody gets lost we shall meet by the bathrooms at 5. Ok, first thing we'll do is get in pairs, and we'll remain with that person the whole day, in case anything happens."

Hanamichi though this could be a *really* good opportunity to be alone with Haruko-san, but he missed Ayako winking at Mitsui, making sure this wouldn't happen. It had already been arranged. Haruko would go with Akagi, Ayako with Ryota, Mitsui with Kogure and so on…

However, Rukawa had other things on his mind. He went towards were Ayako, Mitsui and Haruko were, and towards were Hanamichi was also going. They both stopped at the same time near Haruko. Hanamichi wondered what did the kitsune wanted there, but he didn't really appreciate the answer he got.

"Haruko-_chan_", Rukawa started, giving Hanamichi a very (and I mean *very*) evil look, "Would you like to come with _ME_??"

Haruko froze. Hanamichi froze. Mitsui froze too and Ayako started to panic. No way! Sakuragi Hanamichi and Rukawa Kaede HAD to be the ones together! Mitsui tried to think quickly, but the only answer coming to his mind ment he would also loose the opportunity to spend the afternoon with *his* four eyed boy.

Ayako, I'm doing this for you, he though, and closing his eyes he put one hand over Haruko's shoulder.

"_She_ is coming with _me_" he said, stiffly, much to Rukawa's amazement. Haruko could only nod, beet red, encouraged by Ayako.

"What?!!" Hanamichi yelled, "No way!! You go with Ryochin or Megane-kun, _I_ want to go with Haruko-san!!"

"Go get yourself another person, Haruko is going with _me_, boy"

Hanamichi looked at Ayako broken-hearted, pleading with his eyes, but she just shook her head.

"It's been decided, Hanamichi Sakuragi"

"You come with me then" he insisted. He feared the worst...

"Um, I'm with… Kogure-senpai" she lied, "And Ryota is going with Akagi-senpai, so, um, I guess you're left with Rukawa-kun…?"

A deep, heavy silence fell over the two Shohoku boys. 

"WHAT?!! THAT'S INSANE!!!"

"…….yare yare, I'm getting the hell outta here…!"

**************

12 am, House of Mirrors

Somehow Ayako had managed to make Hanamichi and Rukawa stay in the park and cooperate (after all she was a witch), though she felt rather bad about it as it was Hana's welcome-day and he wasn't enjoying it at all. And Rukawa looked so miserable to her eyes… However, everything would change as from then. It was just a little sacrifice.

Hanamichi and Rukawa were made to enter first to the House of Mirrors, much against their will, followed by Ayako and Kogure and Mitsui and Haruko. Akagi and Ryota waited outside. There was almost nobody inside this house, and it was big enough to let the two freshmen get lost easily. The manageress took out the crystal she had on her pocket. It was just about time, and holding it tight in her hands, she repeated:

_Tabula rasa,_

_Tabula rasa,_

_Tabula rasa._

Then the crystal turned black and the spell was cast.

Both the fox and the red head were walking silently among the mirrors when they started feeling dizzy and light on the head. Rukawa started shivering, for he was still kindda wet. They hadn't spoken a word since then, and Hanamichi was starting to feel some kind of pity for the kitsune, as he had yelled him strong words he hadn't really meant. He didn't actually _hate_ the fox, it just was that everything was so easy to him; he had Haruko-san's love, the National Junior team's attention and his back was in perfect state. And all this taking to consideration he wasn't that _good_ person. Hanamichi had to face so many troubles to get into the team and what for? So that Rukawa ended with the honors and him with a very painful spine treatment that disabled him from both playing basketball and seeing his beloved Haruko.

Rukawa didn't deserve being in the Junior League, _he_ did. After all _he_ was the tensai here!

Hanamichi started feeling dizzy too. As if all this weird looking mirrors had suddenly started to go round and round… he shook his head trying to regain consciousness.

"Ru… Rukawa" he mumbled, while his eyes searched desperately for the black haired kitsune. He spotted him leaning over a mirror with one hand on his face, falling to the floor. Hanamichi tried to reach him before he fell heavily to the floor, but all he managed was to trip very near Rukawa and fall soundly asleep.

Ayako's spell had worked, but as the crystal she had in her hands turned from black to slightly purple, the burning flowers at her house erased something more than bad memories out of the two basketball player's heads.

*Some ten minutes later, Hana and Ru are waking up*

 "Ough… my head hurts like hell… what on earth is going on here…?" Hanamichi woke up, trying to figure out what had happened. He felt a slight pain on his back, but gave no importance to it. He had to know what he was doing there… whoa! He suddenly came across a pale face and a pretty pair of clueless blue eyes.

"Whoa! Who are you?!" he jerked. Right before him there was this very handsome young man, black hair and same staring blue eyes.

"I dunno. Who are you?" he asked, looking for an answer in the chocolate eyes.

"Well I… I don't know either… argh" Hanamichi's head was a real mess, he felt as if to fall again.

"Watch it. Trying to guess will only make it hurt" the blue-eyed boy warned, standing up.

"What's going on?!"

"I told you, I don't know" he shrugged, "I can't even remember who I am"

"Maybe we have amnesia or something…"

"The two of us?? At the same time?? That sounds kindda eerie… do you think we know each other? Your face sounds somewhat familiar…"

"Ya… yours too. Hey, maybe we're brothers" Hanamichi smiled.

"…maybe… don't you have any document on your pockets or something?"

They started checking their pockets for some info on themselves… Hana was the first to find a brown wallet on his blue jeans.

Here, look!" he shouted excitedly, "I'm… Sa. Ku. Ra. Gi… Hana… michi. Hey, my name's Hanamichi, funny name. What about yours?"

The other boy searched through his 4 pockets but couldn't find a thing (did I mention Ayako kept his wallet when he entered the bathroom?? Didn't I?? Well, then, she kept it).

"Nope, not a thing…" he sounded faintly disappointed.

"Oh, well, never mind. Maybe we decided to bring just one wallet, I mean, if we are brothers and so. That means we probably have the same surname. So I can call you Sakuragi untill we know your name, ok?"

Rukawa nodded, "if you say so…"

"Come on, lets get out of this place. There's something about these mirrors that give me the creeps…"

With that they went out, (well, they tried, it took them some 20 minutes to find an exit), and managed to get to some benches near another small fountain.

Meanwhile, somewhere else in the House of Mirrors, Ayako was waking up, very confused. She put her hand over her head and tried to get something out of the situation, but got to the conclusion she couldn't remember a thing about… well, about *anything* at all. She looked around, and she realized she was sitting over some other guy. Some other tall guy who wore glasses. He grunted when the girl woke up, which made her jump nervously to her feet.

"Who—who are you?!"

"That's my question, I guess. What were you doing over me??"

"How am I supposed to know? I can't remember a thing…"

The bespectacled guy got up from the floor, adjusting his glasses.

"Me either. Maybe you just fell over me and when our heads got hit we lost our memories…"

"Weird stuff, that means we probably have temporary amnesia, right?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Scary, what are we to do, then?"

"Mh, find some help??"

They suddenly heard a horrified scream from somewhere near there. It sounded like a girl in dire need of help.

"What was that?!"

"It came from here, come on!!"

Meanwhile very near that place, Mitsui was trying to convince a very confused Haruko not to keep on screaming like if he was going to kill her or something.

"Shut up, girl! I'm not gonna eat you!!"

"Get away from me, you look dangerous!!" she yelled, desperately.

"Hey!! That was really insulting, you know--"

"What's going on here?!" a guy with glasses appeared out of the blue, panting.

Mitsui and Haruko looked rather puzzled at his sight, but at least Haruko stopped her shouting.

"What are you doing to that girl?!" Ayako joined.

"Nothing!! She just started crying like crazy!!"

"He looks dangerous" the girl insisted.

"It's OK, can any of you tell me were we are?"

Haruko and Mitsui both looked at each other blankly.

"Well… I don't…"

"I can't either…"

"So this isn't just four eyes and me, right?" Ayako interrupted their mumbling, "Something really weird is going on here…"

"And what about you two. Who are you?"

"We don't know. We were hoping we could find some help when we heard her screaming…"

Haruko turned slightly red, "I'm sorry, I was just scared… you don't look _that_ dangerous, I'm really sorry…"

"Yeah, it's OK. Mustn't be funny to wake up not knowing who you are and finding yourself over some stranger…"

"Well maybe you weren't strangers at all" Kogure suggested.

"Whatddya mean?"

"Yeah, if you were *that* near…"

Mitsui looked at Haruko. She actually *was* a kindda cute girl, maybe they had some closer relationship or something, and it really felt as if he knew her from before…

"Yap, should be that. Hey maybe you're my girlfriend" he smiled, making Haruko turn even redder. There were something on those blue eyes and black hair that caught Haruko's attention as well, so she though then maybe that was true.

"Maybe" she smiled back, and Mitsui immediately wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

"Any idea about your names?"

Kogure inspected the jacket he had on and found some papers on one pocket. It was the map and the paper with the names of every team member.

"Look, there are only three girl names here. Haruko, Ayako and Kaede"

 "Kaede Rukawa…" Haruko repeated to herself. That name surely rang a BIG bell on her head, "I really know that name from somewhere…"

"If you know that name that means we must know each other from before… Your faces look familiar too. That must be your name then… but it also goes for boys, so it could be your boyfriend's name as well."

"Maybe that is you" she smiled to Mitsui.

"Yeah… but I don't really get anything out of that name… gimme that list… Miyagi… no… Sakuragi?? No, no… Kogure… hey I know that... Mitsui… Mitsui Hisashi… no… damn!"

"Easy, boy, check out your pockets you might find something as well"

He did exactly as he was told. "Hey look, I've found some money over here, but no names."

"Kogure" the glassed guy said, "look, my name is Kogure"

He had a nametag inside his jacket, and a little paper where some of the couples' names of that day were written.

"That would make you Ayako. Here, take a look. It says Ayako goes with Kogure, Akagi with Miyagi and Mitsui with Haruko. What do you think?"

"Kaede is not here"

"Maybe we came on our own, sweetheart" Mitsui decided. Haruko's grin enlarged. Off course, she thought.

"So this means some people are missing, right?"

"Yap, we should go look for them before something weird happens, since we still don't know why we suddenly can't remember anything at all…"

"But we don't even know this people, how are we supposed to find them then?"

"Maybe they can remember us and tell us who we are…" Haruko suggested.

"Yeah, she—Kaede is right. Let's go…"

Same time, not so far from the House of Mirrors 

Rukawa sneezed strongly, while Hanamichi came with some drinks he had just bought and sat beside him.

"Bless you. You cold??" he asked, giving Rukawa a drink.

"No, it's ok. Thanks… It's just… This is so weird…" he sipped his Sprite and looked into the bright blue sky, "You've got your name at least…"

Hanamichi shrugged, "It's not that it means _that_ much. It could be any name, it still has no meaning for me… come on, cheer up, kitsune boy"

Rukawa blinked at his new nickname.

"_Kitsune boy??_". Hanamichi smiled broadly.

"Your eyes are foxy-like" he explained, very pleased with his discovery, "And besides it sounds kindda cute, don't you think?"

Rukawa just stared. Kindda cute, huh?

"Yeah…". Hanamichi gave one last look at the sad kitsune eyes. Seeing this raven-haired fellow feel so miserable made him feel bad too. After all, they were brothers, right? It must have been that, since he could feel he shared some kind of bond with this guy.

"Hey, I say, if we are in this place, that must mean something, right? I mean, look, there's so many attractions over here, why don't we give ourselves a break and go have some fun??"

I didn't sound like a bad idea. Too much thinking was making Rukawa's head go crazy, anyway.

"Ok, let's go"

"All right! I wanna see the big roller coasters, come on!!" he jumped excitedly, and taking Rukawa's hand he started running towards the roller coaster area. Rukawa smiled faintly when he saw the red head's enthusiasm.

*Ok, now let's just suppose they had a great time that lasted for an hour or so*

 Meanwhile, however

Ayako, Kogure, Mitsui and his new *girlfriend*, Haruko, were sitting at some tables, eating. Their situation wasn't very different to Hana and Ru's.

"…no luck at all. Nobody here seems to recognize us. What will we do?"

Mitsui hugged his 'Kaede-chan'.

"The hell with it. Kaede-chan, why don't we give the Tunnel of Love a try?" he smiled.

"I'd love to, darling" she said, hearts on her eyes. She looked so sickly in love… 

"What a cute couple. No wonder they were together, don't you think, Kogure-san?"

Kogure smiled rather disappointed. "Yah…" he said vaguely. He had a nasty feeling all over his chest.

Mitsui got up from his chair. 'Lets go, love' and he and Haruko went away.

"We'll meet here at 4, ok? Tell us if you find something" Mitsui said as he walked away, his hand holding Haruko's. Kogure waited till they were out of sight to talk.

"I have a bad feeling about this"

"What do you mean?"

"Those two… I dunno, I just feel it's not right"

"Well, that guy said your name was familiar. What if you were friends in love with the same girl? Hey, you could have probably helped him get her love despite your true feelings… so sad, ne?"

Kogure sweatdropped, "you think so?"

"Anou… it could be anything, you know… But don't worry, Kogure-san, you—"

"AYA-CHAN!!!!" a voice called from behind, "Aya-chan, Kogure! Were where you, where is everybody??"

Ayako turned round impulsively. Ah, so her name _was_ Ayako!

"Who are you?" she asked to a panting Ryota.

"What do you mean, _who am I_?? It's me, Ryota! Don't go fooling around, this is important!"

Kogure smiled happily surprised, "You know us??!"

"Off course I do!! Stop playing, will ya?? Everybody's missing and—"

Ayako looked at Kogure, her face lightened up.

"He can tell us who we are!!" se exclaimed. Then she noticed Ryota looking at her very very confused and she explained what had happened that day.

"…so the spell went wrong." He said.

"Um? What spell??"

"You cast a spell over two guys that fight like a lot to make them become friends by erasing their bad memories… but it seems something went wrong and your memories were erased too… And as Kogure was with you in the House of Mirrors, that must mean everybody there suffered the spell's consequences…"

"Um… and how do we revert this?"

"I have no idea… anyway, were are Mitsui and Haruko?"

"I don't know. We just met Kaede and another guy… you know them, right?"

"Off course I do, we all know them… those were the guys you were trying to enchant…"

Ayako frowned. Ok, so _that_ was why they were behaving that way. Kogure was right then, there was something wrong with all that, it's not fair using magic in love affairs!

"So where did those two go??"

"To the tunnel of love" Ayako said.

"TO WHERE?!" Ryota asked horrified, in disbelief.

"If you ask me," Kogure started, "they looked like if they had been a couple the whole of their lives"

Ryota turned green, ugh! Hanamichi and Rukawa, a _couple_?! That was just TOO much for him!! However, he tried to digest this and motioned Ayako and Kogure to follow him. Whatever was happening over there, he had to find Akagi who was also looking for his sister and friends, together with all the other missing Shohoku members as well.

Some hours later, roller coaster's exit 

Hanamichi smiled broadly while pushing back his short red hair with his hand. He was feeling damn good despite the little fact he had no clue who he was. He could always count on roller coaster fun to help him recover his good spirits. As for Kaede Rukawa, we couldn't exactly say the same for him. He could be a basketball ace, but after eleven rides in a row to all different and inside-shaking attractions he was beginning to feel *really* sick. And I mean _really_. In fact, it was since the ninth ride he had started to feel this revolting sensation in his stomach… 

"Come on, kitsune! We still have some more things to visit!!" Hanamichi exclaimed. Did he actually say he wanted _more_?!

"Hold… on… a… sec…" Rukawa pleaded, two Kenshin-like whirls on his eyes, while he leaned against a nearby tree, "I feel like… throwing up…".

"Huh? You ok? You look pale, maybe we should take you to the hospital…"

Rukawa suddenly lost his balance and almost fell to the floor, but this time Hanamichi was there to avoid it. He moved quickly and let Rukawa fall into his arms. He had fainted.

Hana sighted. Maybe he had pushed the kistune's limit too much. After all he had looked confused all along, and he had been all stiff as well. Too much for just one day.

"Don't worry, fox, it will be ok…" he whispered, and took Rukawa to the nearest nursery he could find inside the park. He felt guilty for this guy, for some reason. Like if he owed him something.

The tunnel of Love, 5 minutes later 

"Whatddya mean, closed for reparations?!" Mitsui yelled at a poor park maintenance assistant.

"Gomnennasai, demo, this attraction won't open until next week, gomennasai…" she said.

"Don't 'gomennasai' me!! What am I supposed to tell my girlfriend now?! She's been looking forward to this like a lot, you know?!! You… you—!!!"

"It's ok, dear" Haruko stopped him before he killed the poor girl, "As long as we are together, I don't care."

Haruko dragged a very upset Mitsui to a more lonely spot in the park, in order to have some more *ahem*

privacy.

"Che! I really wanted to have a nice celebration of our first anniversary, Kaede-chan, I'm sorry" he apologized (don't ask me where he got the 'first anniversary' thing. He just figured it out, I guess ^_^Uu).

"Never mind" Haruko smiled and hugged Mitsui's arm lovingly with both hands, "I love you either way."

"I love you too" he started, and with a gentle movement he let go off Haruko's hands and softly touched her smooth face, "Kaede-chan, happy first anniversary"

"Happy first anniversary" she repeated and let Mitsui kiss her lips. She felt this sudden great sensation, as if she hadn't ever kissed anyone before. How could have she forgotten about this too??! Her boyfriend was such a good kisser (not that she actually remembered having kissing anyone before to compare) and handsome man she felt she was one lucky gal, but being it that she didn't even know his name made it very very unreal and way too much weird for her modest heart.

Unfortunately for the happy couple, they were not as alone as they thought they were.

Ayako, Kogure and Ryota were casually walking near there, looking for Akagi or any other known face when they spotted the embracing teenagers. In fact, only Ayako and Kogure saw them, as Ryota had found Akagi and went towards him. Again, Ayako froze, and Kogure blanked. His heart sunk as it started beating very fast… he suddenly had the urgent need to shout… or get the hell out of there for a change… though he couldn't understand why.

Ayako made him hide behind a tree.

"Wow, those two seem to have recovered fully" she joked, a smile on her lips. Kogure couldn't answer, "Hey, you ok? You look sick"

"N… no… it's no—nothing…" he said, "Let's get out of here…"

They decided to leave the kissers alone and find Ryota, but they couldn't go very far, as the team's new captain had already found Akagi and was going towards them. Ryota had already explained the situation to the gorilla who was in a really bad mood, afraid something could have happened to his little sister.

"Where's my sister?!" he roared when he saw the two guys.

"Who is this guy?!" Ayako asked, puzzled.

"Easy, Akagi, they haven't got a clue, I told you. They don't even know who your sister is, ok?"

"Hey we just saw Kaede and the other one kissing" Ayako commented very excitedly.

"WHAT?! WHO?!" Ryota and Akagi exclaimed.

"Yeah, the small girl with brown hair and…" she explained.

"THAT'S MY SISTER!! WHAT IS SHE DOING?!"

"She's kissing with the tall guy with black hair… Wait, _she_ is _your_ sister?!"

Akagi couldn't wait until Ayako finished her sentence. He was rushing to where she and Kogure had come from to find Haruko. He had always known how awfully in love she was with Rukawa but… kissing?! Them?! No way!! He couldn't, no, he *_wouldn't_* let that happen!!!

"Hey, where are you going…?!"

Ryota was still looking blankly at Ayako. Then he just realized something.

"Wait a minute, Aya-chan… you said Ruka—err this Kaede was with another _guy_, right??"

"Yap, she is with the tall blue eyed and black haired guy… funny, um, he also has this cute little scar on his chin and…"

"_She_?! With a guy with a _scar_?? Those are Mitsui and Haruko!!" he said, extremely astonished, "Oh my God, if they were actually kissing that means Akagi will beat the hell out of Mitsui… Damn, we gotta run!!"

"What??"

"Ok, ok, listen. The girl you thought was Kaede is called Haruko. Kaede Rukawa is a _guy_, and he is supposed to be with another red headed guy. The other guy with her is Hisashi Mitsui, ok? And he is *not* Haruko's boyfriend, he is dating… um, well, another person, ok?" he gave a little glimpse at Kogure, who looked kindda sad, "But when Akagi finds Mitsui with his little sister he will kill him, so we better get going if we don't want to have a funeral today…"

Ryota suddenly remembered the black crystal then and asked Ayako to look for it. She did as she was told.

"You say it was a little crystal?"

"Yeah, you put it inside your left pocket, there. It was the spell's instrument or something like that"

"Oh, here, I feel something!"

As soon as Ayako made contact with the purple crystal, she started feeling a horrible pain all over her body, together with a blinding headache that caused her to fall to her knees.

"Are you ok, Aya-chan???" Ryota asked while helping her up.

"Off course I am not, you baka" she answered, recovering, "I can remember now… but my head hurts like hell… seems like it was all in the crystal…"

"So, you can remember me, right??"

"Well! D'uh!"

"Well then, what happened??"

"I dunno, something must have gone wrong, maybe we used too much Bramble flowers… "

"But how do we reverse it?!"

"Mmm not sure… maybe strong feelings, bursting emotions… you know. I got to touch the crystal which was my connection with the spell… this shouldn't have happened, though. The Tabula Rasa spell is not supposed to come out like this…"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, as far as I know, Tabula Rasa is not able to erase so many memories at once… there's the dangerous part of it; if the spell fails, 'victims' have a certain time to recover their memories, otherwise they'll never get them back at all"

"WHAT?! HOW MUCH TIME?!"

"mmm… dunno, maybe some six hours…"

"It's 4 pm!! That means we have about two hours to find Hanamichi and Rukawa if we don't want them to be lost forever!!"

"Easy, there is a very high probability they have recovered, knowing those two. It will be ok, Ryota. Let's just not panic. I'm more worried about senpai Mitsui right now…"

Back with the other two bishies, hospital room (still inside the park)

Hanamichi carried Rukawa towards the bed the woman (the nurse) there pointed. He felt the kistune's body grow colder and colder, and he feared he might have gotten some illness, after all he had been wet when they first met. The women approached them two.

"What happened to him?" she asked. Hanamichi hesitated.

"Mmm we were coming out of a roller coaster, you know, when he… dunno, fainted…"

"Hm… maybe he needs some rest. Those tortuous games are making lots of young people sick lately… seems they can never have enough and go to the same things over and over again till their bodies stop working…" she complained, and with that she left the room. Hanamichi felt a little bit embarrassed with this. Seemed like it had been his fault his friend was now like that. He looked over to where Rukawa was sleeping.

At least his sadness has disappeared in his dreams. He looked so different now that he was sleeping, Hanamichi though. He looked… well, there were no other words to describe it; beautiful. His black hair felt carelessly over his white skin… Hanamichi wondered who that cute fellow might have been before that day. Somehow, however, he wished they could still be friends after that, even if they had been perfect strangers the whole of their lives.

He looked again at the boy's perfect face. Something motioned him to touch his delicate cheeks and he didn't resist, following gently his curved profile until he finally reached his thin lips.

"I'm sorry, this is all my fault" he whispered, absently.

Rukawa's eyes opened slowly.

"What…?"

Hanamichi smiled.

"You finally woke up, I though you would sleep like forever" he interrupted, abruptly returning to his own self. Rukawa sat down.

"I'm sorry for the trouble, you shouldn't have to…"

"Hey, it's ok. We're in the same position right now, remember?"

Rukawa smiled. It felt really good to be doing so, actually. Hanamichi noticed the bright change on the fox's face.

"Hey! I haven't seen you smile before! It looks pretty on you" he teased, laughing at his little joke, standing up and heading for the door, "I'll tell the woman you're ok, stay here"

Rukawa looked at him while disappearing after the door. In fact, he had awakened before that, even before the red head had touched his face. It's just that he couldn't help himself staying right were he was, paying careful attention to every movement and sound the other guy made. It felt strange. Maybe he should do something about it when the red head came back…

The door opened with a loud noise that made Rukawa jerk out from bed. Hanamichi entered.

"Where the hell could that woman be, right now?!"

"It's OK, I'm fine. Don't worry"

"Hmpf… women!" he grumbled and then sat down beside Rukawa. They didn't say anything for a while, until Rukawa took a deep breath and broke the silence.

"Hey…"

"What?". Rukawa looked into Hanamichi's eyes firmly, yet tenderly. There was a different bright on those liquid blue eyes that could leave any human soul speechless.

"I… I think I… I think I like you" he said.

"What?" Hanamichi couldn't understand what this guy meant by that.

"I'm saying it doesn't feel like we are brothers… I'm saying I think I love you". Hanamichi froze.

"You—you—wha—what??" he mumbled. Rukawa immediately avoided his blank stare.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that… forget it" he apologized.

"…… it's ok" Hanamichi tried to break the tense atmosphere, "maybe you are just confused, hahaha" he laughed, patting Rukawa's back several times, nervously.

"I'm serious" Rukawa corrected, making Hanamichi shut his mouth. The kistune's eyes were a tough pair, he just couldn't keep himself from staring idiotically at them. Suddenly he realized he had Rukawa's face much too near to his. Maybe exceptionally near. In fact, they were almost kissing.

Hanamichi wanted to run away but he felt the sudden and very urgent need to stand still were he was. He felt how Rukawa's lips touched his softly and kissed him gently while he involuntarily kissed him back. It wasn't a bad sensation, the sweet lips lingering about his owns, the fresh breath over his neck and the burning feeling under his skin.

He moved his hands to the kitsune's back and neck, to hold him firmly and don't let go. Rukawa had his hand over his chin, forcing him to open his mouth and take the kissing deeper. He couldn't know if he had had any other previous kissing experiences, or if the fox had either, but if he had been seeing that scene from the outside, he would have sworn those two were something more than beginners in that area.

(Note: I suck at kissing scenes, don't hate me… =_=.)

They kissed for a couple of minutes and then stopped to take a little breath.

Hana's face was as red as his hair, and he tried to avoid Rukawa's eyes at all cost (he tried). A weird silence fell over them. Finally Rukawa stood up.

"I'm fine, let's get out of here"

Two minutes later they were walking past the same little fountain they had been some hours before. It was nearly 4:30 pm and Hanamichi's stomach had started complaining already. He needed some food, and he needed it NOW!! Being that so many things had happened he had completely forgotten the eating part, so he decided to take the kitsune somewhere were they could talk and eat peacefully (and they _really_ needed to sort some things out!!).

They spotted a small Fast Danny's (a smaller version of the original Danny's) and bought some hamburgers and fries. As the place was full of people, they agreed on going to the grassy areas to eat (besides, Hanamichi thought, there are fewer people there, we can talk better that way).

They sat down. Hanamichi had ordered a ridiculous amount of hamburgers of all kinds he devoured in no time, while Rukawa could barely finish his chicken sandwich. Then there was silence again.

"…" Rukawa wasn't sure whether he should talk or not, "hey…".

"Hey" Hana said at the same time, but then turned red again and avoided, once more, Rukawa's eyes.

"You go first"

"Um… ki—kitsune… about today… I'm so—so—sorry"

"… it's ok… " Rukawa felt rather disappointed at this, but then again, he said nothing and they were dead silent again.

"Um… say… you know… how… how did it feel?? To you, I mean…" Hana started, though very nervous.

"Fine"

"Fine?"

"Yeah… you?"

"Um… fine too I guess…"

"Really?" Rukawa's eyes paralyzed Hana.

"Ha—hai" he mumbled. There was something mischievous in Rukawa's amazed stare, "Um… even if we are… you know… guys… it felt… good".

Hanamichi shrugged but then smiled broadly.

"It felt good…" Rukawa echoed, approaching Hana's face.

"Yeah, maybe we should… like… try it again… you know…"

"…again…" Rukawa managed to say before he kissed Hanamichi's lips again.

This time, the kissing was more intense than the first time. They went further into exploring their mouths, the feeling burning so badly, asking for more and more. Hanamichi suddenly found himself grabbing Rukawa by his back and taking him tightly towards his body, so as to feel his strong chest against his. Hanamichi took a deep breath…

"…Kaede" he whispered and kissed Rukawa once more, passionately… wait. Why had he said that??

Rukawa took him by the shirt too and pushed Hanamichi over him, so now the red head was lying over Rukawa on the smooth green grass.

Suddenly, however, Hanamichi's head starting to hurt a lot again. He let go off Rukawa and sat down, impulsively, holding is head with both hands. Rukawa looked at him clueless (dammit!) and sat down too, breathing hardly. What the hell was going on?!

Hanamichi gave a loud cry, which made Rukawa jump out of his place. He took his face near to Hanamichi's.

"What is it?? You ok??" he asked wondering what on Earth was happening to this guy. One minute they were kissing and now…?!

Hanamichi opened his eyes all of a sudden and found Rukawa's staring back, confused, waiting for an answer or so. He remembered the kissing and them…

"RUKAWA TEME!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING, FREAK!!" he exclaimed, pushing Rukawa back, making him fall, and standing up, small tears on his eyes, "You—you—were—_kissing_ me!!! You are horrible!!!!!"

Rukawa couldn't understand a thing. He was _what_?! He stood up, furious.

"WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?! _YOU_ WERE ALSO KISSING _ME_, DON'T YOU REMEMBER?!!!"

Hanamichi started trembling out of rage. Rukawa was looking at him defiantly.

"We weren't doing anything wro—"he started, but Hanamichi impulsively punched him on the face.

"DON'T SAY IT STUPID FOX!! I LOVE HARUKO-SAN, NOT YOU!! I HATE YOU!!" and with that he got his butt out of that place.

To be continued…

**Yumi Rukawa: hm… yeah, I wanted this to be a one shot but it just came out to be longer than expected… It's almost finished, though (just two parts and, God, *NO* sequel!). Hope you've enjoyed it ^^


	2. Part 2

**I don't own Slam Dunk nor any of its characters (If I did I wouldn´t be strugling as I am to get damned manga volume 31 xDDD), so please, don't sue me (I have nothing to give so you wouldn't be able to take anything from me… T_T.) 

**Tabula Rasa was taken from Buffy The vampire Slayers series, I didn't invent it either. So…

^^ hi again!! Wo~~~~~~~~~~~wwww I can't believe this fiction was so popular, many people wrote to me saying they liked it, so to all of you who did THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!! That was probably the main reason why I continued Tabula Rasa ^___^.

I just want to say I wrote this second part under a LOT of stress, a LOT of exams and in the middle of a sea of personal problems so the ending turned out to be kindda pathetic T_T. but I hope you'll like it and it won't dissapoint you. A LOT LOT LOT of thanx to Tracy-san who helped me with the story when I got stuck Thanks gal, you saved me T_T. this second part goes to you.

*******

Tabula Rasa [yaoi/ HanaRu-RuHana w/Mitko (s.story)/SenKosh (4 fans ^^) MitHaru (lil'bit)]

Slam Dunk Fanfiction by Yumi Rukawa

**Part Two**

Ayako had to formulate a new and very fast plan toghether with Ryota and still-clueless Kogure to save Mitsui's life and help him and Haruko recover their memories. They decided to separate; Ryota and Kogure would look for Akagi and tell him everything is OK, and Ayako would meanwhile manage a way of finding Haruko and Mitsui and bring them back to their normal selves. They decided to tell the gorilla everything had been a big huge missunderstanding and that Rukawa was happily at home while Haruko was staying with Ayako for the night again. No kissing, no new boyfriends and no weird stuff going arround. Besides, being Kogure the one in charge to tell him the whole story would make ex-captain Akagi totally buy it, as he knew and trusted the four eyed boy very much.

That, off course, in case they could find either the couple or Rukawa before Akagi did. Either way they would be fried.

Having solved the Akagi part, what was left for them to do was find the kissing couple or the trouble making couple and go home. Wich off course was no easy task.

The first two were not that hard to find. Ayako saw them right on the same spot where they had been kissing a few minutes before, only that they were not kissing anymore but instead had these satisfied light smiles on both their faces and were seating happily on some benches, holding each other's hands.

Ayako wasn't 'amnesied' (yeah, I know, I just invented that ….) anymore so the sight kindda shocked her as she had already got used to seeing Mitsui hanging arround with Kogure-senpai and Haruko-chan drooling over Rukawa-kun again and again. The scene was disturbing as it was beatiful, full of an enchanting sweetness that made it even more unreal and grotesque. 

Ayako had to force herself out of the daydreaming, however, so five seconds from then she was her usual self again. She took a deep breath, some courage, and walked to the little couple nervously.

They waved their hands as soon as they saw her, though anyone could have seen there was a bit of dissapointment in their eyes (we wan privacy, hello!!!).

"Hi guys…. Um… we really gotta talk about… some things… important stuff… you know".

"Actually, we don't" Mitsui interrupted, impatient.

"What do you mean, Ayako-san??"

"About us, and who we are… I better tell ya when we're all toghether, k? Come on!"

On their way to where ever Ayako was taking them, they came across Ryota.

"Oh, Ryota!! Finally! Were is Akagi-sempai?"

"Kogure is trying to calm him down. Says he wants to see her sister right *now*! You know what Akagi can be like when he is like *really* mad…"

"Tell me about it… OK, listen. You take these two to the point we said we would be meeting with the team, I'll go look for Sakuragi Hanamichi and Rukawa-kun. PLEASE try to keep Akagi-senpai calmed and don't let him touch Mitsui, for God's sake! Deny everything about the kissing part, k? Let them play their little love thingy till I come back with the two missing guys…"

"Ok, Aya-chan. See you there!". 

Somewhere else, not very far from there… 

Hanamichi tried to calm a little bit himself. He was turbed, confused, angry, raging, embarrased… and so sad. He had been since he saw Rukawa's eyes staring at him the way they did. _WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?! YOU WERE ALSO KISSING ME, DON'T YOU REMEMBER_ he had said. And he had sounded so hurt it had really touched Hanamichi. It was the first time he got such an answer from the fox. Such an emotional charge in it…. Such eyes behind those angry words… he couldn't deal with it, he just couldn't.

He felt horrible for himself. His manly pride shattered to pieces, God! He had _kissed_ a _guy_. Or what was worse; ha had kissed_ Rukawa_!! He hated Rukawa!! He hated his guts, he hated everyhting that had to do with him, he was even starting to hate real foxes!! He could't understand a thing, though.

On one first place, what _was_ he doing there were he was with Rukawa, had they been kissing or not. Last thing he could remember was the stupid house of mirrors amd then the kiss—though he didn't really want to remember it any more. All he wanted to do was run as far as he could from Rukawa, the Fun Park or whoever he knew, as he wouldn't stand the shame of what he had just done. God, he just wanted to get home and forget about everything.

He wandered looking for an exit that was nowhere to be seen. Plus, he had completely lost track of time. He just walked arround hoping no one would see him.

'God I'm stupid… how did I ever let that fox kiss me… ME? A GENIOUS! TRICKED BY A FOX!!!'

"Hanamichi Sakuragi, you're SO predictable" a voice said from behind.

"Wha--?????" Hanamichi turned round immediately. "A—Ayako-san!"

"What did Rukawa do to you now, huh?" she asked as if she wasn't at all surprised.

"No—nothing!!" the red head answered as quickly, nervously. Ha was really hoping Ayako hadn't heard the kissing part.

"And where is Rukawa-kun?"

"Ah… how am I supposed to know?!?!?! I'm not the kitsune's nanny, y'know!" he said very angry. Ayako pulled a surprise face at Hana's sudden reaction.

"Well he was your _PARTNER_hello!!!"

"HE IS NOTHING OF ME!! WE ARE NOTHING I HATE HIM AND I LOVE HARUKO-SAN!!!!" he excalimed violently.

"Whoa, chill out! You don't need to yell, we _*all*_ know you like Haruko-chan, OK?!"

This seemed to calm Hanamichi.

"Anyway, I'm glad to see you are OK. You recovered your mind…"

"Huh? My what…?"

"Um… let me explain it when we're all toghether again. So do you at least know if Rukawa-kun is _OK?_ Or safe at least..?"

"Stupid fox…" he said angrily again, "I dunno… maybe he went home, that hentai… who knows…"

"Hentai ka?! Rukawa-kun??? Haha, sure!"

Hana wasn't very pleased by this comment and he suddenly went all beet red over the face.

"What?" Ayako guessed. "What did you do to him? Or what did he do to *you*, huh??"

"No—nothing!! Let's go with the rest of the team!!"

"No way. TELL ME!!"

"I said NOTHING, woman!"

*PAF* paper fan over Hanamichi's face.

"Itai!! Ayako-san!"

"Listen Hanamichi Sakuragi, you can fool who ever you want except ME! So tell me."

Hana kept quiet for a few seconds.

"I'm still waiting…"

Hana didn´t want to tell her, but seemed he had no other option…

"To—today… we… we fainted on the mirror thing…" he was making a great effort to remember what had happened in between the morrir house and the kiss, "we… we didn't know who we were… I swear!"

"And you had a fight?"

"N—no… no, we were acting friendly, in fact…"

"That's great!"

"NO!! Then… then we went to the hospital…"

"So you HAD a fight!"

"NO! He—he fainted or something… again. He was wet and I took him… took him to the hospital… and then to eat something—yes… but then he… We…I…  he…"

"HE WHAT???"

"He… he…he… he… he…. He ki… k… k… kis… ss… ss… ki—kissed me!"

Ayako was astonished.

"wha… wha… you… you… YOU KISSED RUKAWA-KUN?!?!?!?!?!?!!?"

"Sure, yell it louder, I DON'T THINK THEY HEARD YOU IN URUGUAY!!!"

"What kind of kissing?!?!" she asked getting rather excited about the idea. Hana started fearing the worst. Again, his cheeks went as red as his short hair.

"You mean you let him stuck his tounge into your mouth?!?!?!"

"COULD YOU NOT PUT IT THAT WAY, PLEASE?!?!!"

Ayako didn't know wether to burst into laugh or tears.

"Wow…" she didn't know her spell could go *that* well… "and… and… what did you do then??"

"I… I remembered who I was and… pu… punched Rukawa on the face and told him I hated him… and run."

"And him?"

"I dunno!! He said something. I wasn't paying attention, I just wanted to get the hell outta there… damned kitsune…"

Ayako didn't say a word. She was lost in deep thinking, actually wondering if she hadn't missheard Hanamichi. And as for Rukawa, she wondered if he was OK.

"Please Hanamichi Sakuragi, try at least to remember where Rukawa is??"

Hana was angry. Very. Why this woman kept on asking for Rukawa when he had told her they had just kissed?!?!?! If there was someone he would rather not see for the next hundred years, that was Rukawa.

"I dunno… he went home!!" he lied. He didn't want to remember the confused and furious expression Rukawa had when he had punched him, and the pain on his voice when he shouted those words… He had looked as if he honestly had no idea where he was standing and Hanamichi started wondering if he hadn't been a little bit harsh on him…

Ayako sighed. "Home?"

"Yeah"

"But you mean he acted like he actually _knew_ who he was, right??"

Hanamichi looked at her really confused, "What do you mean, you are crazy!!"

After hiting him on the head with her infamous paper fan, Ayako took Hanamichi Sakuragi with the rest of the team.

Meanwhile, going back with the poor pretty fox…

Rukawa sat down on the empty green space, crying. He let himself lay indefinetly over the smooth grass, not knowing what on earth he was to do with his life from then on. He was much too confused to allow his dizzy brain to think correctly so he just stayed there were he was, unable to get head or tail out of the whole situation. He actually felt not only sad and irritated but insulted and annoyed. Whoever was this red head guy anyway, and why the hell were they both kissing when there was a very big probability that didn't even know each other. And who *was* this Haruko person after all??? Hadn't he said he couldn't remember anything at all either???? And why did he allow him to kiss him…? Huh? Was that guy making fun of him? All the time…? Why…?

Too many questions wandered Rukawa's head while all he wanted was to drive them away. He didn't want to think about it anymore or worry for the damned red head either. In fact, he just wanted to die.

He sighed once more actually taking this last idea into consideration for a while but immediately scared it off thinking there was no use in wasting his life for one stupid guy that meant absolutely nothing for him. He wiped the last tears out of his pale cheek and sat down trying to figure out what to do. His head hurt like hell and it felt as if he hadn't cried that much in his whole life. He didn't notice the two pair of eyes that watched him from a not very big distance…

***

"Ok, so, who are you looking at _now_?!" the smaller boy said, annoyed, as he gave a soft but precise punch to his companion on one arm.

"Itai!! Hiro~~~~~~~~!!! That hurt!!" the other one answered playfully. His blue eyes turned automatically in the first guy's direction and looked at him innocently. The later frowned.

"Don't you dare give me that look, Akira Sendoh!!!" he said in what sounded as a mother addressing his little kid after he did something bad.

"What kind of look? I'm looking at you normally. And I must say—you have such pretty eyes, Hiro-kun…" he smiled.

"Stop calling me like that. It's KOSHINO! Ok?" the boy said, blushing furiously. Sendoh laughed.

"But you look so cute when you put that face!" Sendoh smiled lovingly, huging his lover despite his desperate attempts to avoid the hug.

"Enough Sendoh!!" he cried finally getting the spike-haired boy to let him go. His attention focused again on what should have been the main point of the conversation, "So who were you looking at."

"Huh? Looking…? Oh, ah, yes! That guy, look" he pointed at the figure of Rukawa sitting on the grass.

"Yes. What with him. What are you planning now?!"

"Planning?! Hey wait!! Don't look at me like that!! I didn't mention it with those intentions!! Don't take me wrong!!" 

"Ok, so what's with him?" Koshino asked sharply, uninterested.

"Don't you think that's a familiar face over there?". They both looked in Rukawa's direction, trying to get a better image of him.

"Isn't it Rukawa from Shohoku?"

"Rukawa? What on earth would _Rukawa_ be doing in a place were people are supposed to have _fun_? He has less emotion than a turtle."

"Well who knows… but he does look kindda depressed, huh?"

"Aw, _please _Sendoh!! That's exactly one reason why he couldn't be Rukawa at all! Ok? Let's go!"

"Demo Hiro! We can't let a person suffer alone like that!!"

"Sendoh, I know you and I *know* those are not your true intentions!"

Sendoh looked at Koshino's eye with a very hurt and sad face (fake, off course).

"Didn't I prove I was 100% loyal to you yet? Besides, Rukawa doesn't like guys."

"That has never stopped you…" Koshino answered, giving up and following Sendoh towads were what was supposed to be Rukawa was.

***

Rukawa was just sitting there. His face had adopted his usual neutral 'expression' (if we can call that an expression) and he looked like the old Rukawa again, except for the faint sad glimmer on his deep blue eyes.

He noticed someone coming his way and hoped it wasn't someone he knew for all he wanted was to be alone for a while.

But.

"Rukawa!! Rukawa, ne!!" Sendoh called cheerfully. He stopped a meter or two away from the foxy boy, smiling. Koshino came righ behind.

Rukawa sighed for the unptieth time. 'Please let that not be me', and then turned arround just to be sure. There he saw this vary tall—maybe even taller than him—guy with black spiky hair, friendly smile and a flashing sensual smile. 

"Hi, hey, how are you? Are you alone?" Sendoh insisted, getting closer to Rukawa who just looked at him in awe, unable to recognice that face either.

 "Why, answer, are you deaf or what?". There was this other guy behind, same blue eyes but they did't look as friendly. Rukawa kept his silence.

"Hiro, please. Ne, Rukawa, are you OK?"

"Who are you?" Rukawa asked looking confusedly into Sendoh's eyes like pleading for an answer.

"Huh? What do you mean who are we?"

"That's it! Sendoh lets get the hell out of here!!" Koshino exclaimed clearly pissed off.

"No, wait. You _are_ Rukawa right?" Sendoh somehow knew there was something wrong with that 

guy.

"Off course he is!! It's just that you know how he is!!! Lets GO!"

Rukawa took a deep breath, "I dunno who I am"

"What??" 

"What?? You've got amnesia or something?"

"I don't know! I don't even know my name or why I am here or anything, ok?"

Sendoh sat down besides Rukawa and Koshino followed.

"Hn. That must be why you look like all sad"

"Yeah it's not very normal to see you like that…"

"So you know me"

"Well yeah. Kind of."

"Don't you remember anything at all? Nothing?"

Rukawa shook his head slowly, trying to remember, but nothing came to his head.

"Well your name is Kaede Rukawa and you play basketball for your school, that's how you get to know us as we have played against your school a few times."

"Yeah, and this guy here is your rival and you hate his guts" Koshino explained.

"Hiro-kun!!"

"Ok, maybe hate is a little bit strong…"

"Kaede Rukawa…" Rukawa looked into the empty space in front of him, absently,  repeating his name slowly, "he called me that too…"

Sendoh  blinked "He?"

"Um… yeah. Some guy… he said his name was something like… um… something with sakura…"

"Sakuragi?!" Hiro said.

"HANAMICHI SAKURAGI?!" the taller guy shouted. He almost left the other two basketball players deaf.

"You don't need to shout WE CAN HEAR, OK?!"

"I'm sorry, Hiro-kun ^^Uu"

"Do you know him?" Rukawa asked, his eyes shining with hope.

"Yes, he is one of your team mates. With the read hair and all that, right? But I would't say you two are exactly good friends…"

"Hm… I know, I've noticed that…" he answered. Both the other guys looked at him surprised. Ru explained: "He was with me earlier today but… we had some problems… like we didn'k know who we were. The two of us, and we were getting along like friendly but then um… _something…_ happened and he said he hated me and that he loved--"

"Haruko-san" Sendoh finished.

"Yes. Who is she anway?"

"A girl he's always been in love with. Ever since he entered the basketball team, but she… well she likes another person…"

"Tell him" Koshino said, turning at Rukawa, "that would be you."

"Huh?" Rukawa blinked, "me??"

"Yeah but she doesn't even exist for you. Like you hardly know her name. That's one of the reasons why Sakuragi hates your guts… I can't believe _we_ are telling _you_ this."

"… oh, and you would be…?" Ru asked. He was receiving information about him from people he didn/t even know who they were xD.

"Oh! Akira Sendoh! And this here is Hiro-kun…"

"Hiroaki Koshino!" Koshino corrected Sendoh while pinching his arm.

"I meant that—ouch!!"

"So, what are you planning to do know? Do you know were you live, or where did Sakuragi go? Or anything else like when or how did you lose your memories?"

"Nh nh… no. But now at least I know my name… I'll figure it out. Thanks" Ru said as he stood up. Sendoh did the same and then his little lover.

"You sure you'll be Ok?"

"Anything you need… Sendoh, why don't you give him your cellphone number?"

"No, it's OK, really. Thanks a lot. Bye…" as he said this, Rukawa was smiling. Sendoh stood there looking idiotically. When he was gone, he turned to his Hiro-kun.

"That was weird" he said.

"Yeah, I wonder where he got this amnesia thingy… it's scary…"

"Not that, Hiro, his smile."

"What about it ¬¬?"

"Aw, you are being jealous again!"

"I'm not!! Stop it!!!". Sendoh laughed again, wondering if they had done the right thing. It's not every day you get to see a fox like that show his pretty smile…

Same time, the other part of the team, almost 5:30 pm 

Ayako was trying to manage a way of warning Hana about Haruko's weird attitude towards Mitsui, as she knew Hana would probably want to kill him if he saw them. 'Mark another one on Akagi senpai's side…'

"Hanamichi Sakuragi!"

"What?" he growled as an answer.

"Listen, I know very weird things have happened today to you and maybe you can't understand why now, but you will when we see the rest of the team. I just have to tell you that however crazy you see your other team mates act, don't—and I mean DON'T freak out, Ok?"

"Why would I do that?!"

"Just promise you won't"

"Ok Ok… ¬¬ women…"

After hiting Hana once more with her paper fan, Ayako finally spotted the table at wich everybody was sitting. Mitsui and Haruko were toghether, as she had predicted, holding hands and Kogure sat beside them, trying to keep his and Akagi's composure. Ryota looked worriendly as if Akagi was a time bomb ready to explode.When he saw Ayako coming his way with Hana, he ran towards them to make sure the red head wouldn't cause even more problems because of the Mitsui-Haruko issue.

"Hanamichi!! Are you Ok? Where's Rukawa??"

"Why do everybody have to worry about Rukawa?!?! I'm fine! Thanks!" Hanamichi said angrily. Ayako just pulled a 'he-is-in-a-bad-mood-never-mind' face to Ryota. Hana walked past the smaller boy, towards the other guys. He saw Haruko and suddenly forgot everything that had happened that afternoon. Still, however, he noticed he wasn't blushing idiotically like he used to do when he saw her… he didn't feel that extreme passion or happines that sort of invaded him whenever she was near him…

"Haruko-san!" he said smiling. Ayako and Ryota rushed to his side when they heard this.

"Wa—wait, Hanamichi!!"

A lilttle bit too late.

"KYAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!! HARUKO-SAN WHAT ARE YOU DOING HOLDING HANDS LIKE THAT TO MITCHI?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!" Hanamichi yelled in total shock, "TEMEEE MITCHI HENTAI!!!!!"

"Lay back, punk! She is my girlfriend!!" Mitsui answer, defiantly.

Hana was very very very extremely pissed off. So much that he prepeared to throw himself against Mitsui and show him who he was with one of his famous headbuts, but Ryota and Ayako were there to hold him on time.

"Hanamichi Sakuragi, wait!!!"

"LEMME GO!!!"

"Hanamichi STOP!!! Listen to us!!!"

It wasn't until Akagi stood up and gave Hana a extra powerful gori punch that the red head calmed down. He had gone totally mad, much to Mitsui's and Haruko's surprise.

"Sit down, you fool," Akagi said terminantly, "and listen to what they've got to say. Do you think *I* would agree some former street gangster like Mitsui or you hang out with my sister?!"

Hanamichi growled but kept quiet and sat down, giving a very scarry look full of hatred to Mitsui.

Ayako then cleared her throat and started explaining what had really happened that afternoon to her boys.

"Ok, so listen carefully. Hontou wa… um… Ok. We all came to this park together, to start with. Me, you guys and another guy that is not here—Rukawa. We were here to celebrate Hanamichi Sakuragi was rejoining the team—the basket ball team you all play for—after some months hospitalized for some column problems. However, the real reason we were all here today, other than welcoming Hanamichi Sakuragi back to the team, was to try to make him and Rukawa-kun stop fighting and become friends."

"WHAT?!" Hana asked in disbelief.

"Wait, wait—listen!! I tried to cast a spell on them that would errase their bad memories and the feelings of hate they had towards each other…"

"…but the spell went wrong and left everyone on the mirror house amnesiac" Ryota finished her sentence for her, "Because we all decided to get into the mirror house in pairs and to be able to get Rukawa toghether with Hanamichi we ended up like this. The reason Akagi-senpai and I weren't affected is that  we didn't enter the house of mirrors when the spell was cast."

"Yes. I really don't know what exactly went wrong with Tabula Rasa, but as we were on pairs and we sddenly found ourselves alone with somebody we didn't know by our side, we might have though or actually believed we were with that person for… other significant reasons."

Ayako eyed Mitsui and Haruko.

"What do you mean 'actually believed?!'" Mitsui said furiouisly, standing up, "are you trying to say I actually believe I love my girlfriend but that we've got nothing to do with each other?!"

"Mitsui, please, calm down!"

Haruko pulled her lover back.

"Darling please, there is no reason why we should believe this…!"

Ayako frowned at haruko's statement. _She _had been there when the spell was being prepared.

"Why do you think you found the name _Kaede Rukawa_ familiar, huh??" she asked Haruko, "let me tell you why—you are totally crazy for that guy!! Ever since high school!! You don't like Mitsui, for God's sake!!! Haruko, please!!!"

Haruko was in shock too but she tried not to listen to what Ayako was saying. She knew _nothing _about this Rukawa person anyway, and in any case, she had to follow her heart rather than what anybody was saying, and her heart told her to keep those blue eyes near her.

Mitsui was getting a little bit violent after hearing all that Ayako had said but Haruko was still holding him from the shirt and he dare not hurt her or anybody in front of her. He *had* promised he wouldn't fight again… hadn't he?

"Darling... " Haruko started, "listen. I don't know if what Ayako-san is telling us is true or not, but there is no reason we have to break up, anyway! I love you, darling, that's all I care for!"

Akagi almost faints and Kogure had a tough time preventing his mass of a body from falling to the floor.

"I love you too Haruko-chan. Let's go away from these wacky people. Bye loosers!" he said and grabbing Haruko's hand he took her somewere else.

"Wait!! Let me finish!!!" Ayako pleaded but they were gone and she couldn't warn them about what could happen if they didn't recovered their mamories fast…

Hana stood in his position on his chair, but his mind was somewhere else. His thoughs had set on Rukawa again and he was so concentrated he had missed the whole Haruko-Mitsui scene. Maybe he had realised he didn't care that much, as his main concern now was whether Rukawa was Ok or not and if he had recovered his memories by now. He would sure be hating him if he had done so and that got him somewhat depressed. He got off his daydreaming when he noticed aAyako was calling her name repeatedly.

"Hello. Earth calling to Hanamichi Sakuragi" she said sarcastically.

"What do you want now?"

"Do something!"

"What? About what?!"

"Were where you?! Mitsui and Haruko ran away and Kogure, Akagi and Ryota had to go find them because they don't want to _break up_ on their _first anniversary_!! How's that?! Go get Haruko-chan back before Mitsui does something to her!"

"Grr!! That baka Mitchi!!!" Hana said, but just as he was standing up, the loudspeakers of the park called his attention.

"Sakuragi Hanamichi-san. Please Sakuragi Hanamichi-san, Rukawa Kaede-san is waiting for you at the entrance of the House of Mirrors. I repeat: Sakuragi Hanamichi-san, Rukawa Kaede-san is waiting for you at the entrance of the House of Mirrors."

"Huh?!" Hana looked very surprised and confused at the same time… seems he had remebered after all.

"Rukawa-kun?" Ayako looked up into the sky, "he is Ok, phew. Seems your foxy companion didn't have enough of you Hanam--"

She couldn't finish her sentence as the tall red head ran past her side, hurriedly, in direction to the House of Mirrors. She smiled.

"Seems you didn't have enough of him either…"

House of Mirrors once again, about 6 pm 

Rukawa was standing right in the entrance of the attraction, not very sure of what he was about to do. He wanted to see this guy again and at least ask him if he was making fun of him or what, or maybe he was taking revenge for being him the one this Haruko somebody had chosen to like… who knows. 

He just waited there, both anxious and maybe angry. There weren't many people near the place. It was getting late and the park closed its doors at about 7:30 at that time of the year, so those who had gone to spend their day there were already leaving and going home. The sun had started to set down, though there was still plenty of light and some early stars had started to appear in the clear, pail-blue sky.

He had been standing there for the past ten minutes and was about to abandon this crazy idea of his and forget everything when he saw Hanamichi's silohuette running towards him. Rukawa didn't know why but he immediately recignized his figure even though it could have been anybody.

Hana saw him right away and stopped just a few meters from where he was, panting. He leaned his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath back, while the dark-haired boy merely watched. He decided Hana's hair looked even cuter when it fell wildly over his face, like on that precise moment.

"I was about to leave…" Rukawa said, though his voice seemed absent.

Hana said nothing. He had his normal breathing back but didn't know how he could handle tha situation.

"…though you wouldn't come, after all the things you said…"

"I never ment them! I swear!" Hana suddenly looked at Rukawa's eyes and the foxy guy saw nothing but pure honesty in the chocolate bright eyes of the red head.

There was silence again. Hanamichi's cheek started to go slighly red and he had to avoid Rukawa's eyes to keep on talking.

"S…so… you recovered your memories…" he said shyly.

"Do think I would be here if I had done so?"

"Huh??"

Ru sighed.

"I met this two guys. Sendoh and Koshino. They told me about me and you and Haruko, and they mentioned the part were you hate me and love that girl, wich off course I already knew as that was exactly what you said when you hit me and left me clueless on the floor."

Hana bit his lower lip. He was trully very sorry for that.

"And as I am really starting to believe we really hate each other, I would at least like to know why on earth you let me kiss you, cause I've started feeling very weird and unconfortable things since then and if you don't give me a reasonable answer my head is going to explode…! If you were just making fun of me—"

"No! I… I wasn't making fun… of you. I couldn't remember a thing either! It's true… I… I was in the same position you were—are…"

"Then what?!"

"I—I dunno!! You were there and then we were kissing, I was very confused!! I had a mess on my head and suddenly I started to remember everything—_everything_!! And it *is* true, we _used _to hate each other but I don't see any reason why we should now…" Hana stopped as he remembered what Haruko had said to Mitsui before. _I don't know if what Ayako-san is telling us is true or not, but there is no reason we have to break up, anyway! I love you, darling, that's all I care for!_

"I love you, that's all I care for…" he whispered, evoquing Haruko-san's concerned tone. Ru couldn't hear him, anyway, as he was far enough to miss the whispered words. Hana suddenly started feeling dizzy again, but it wasn't the same kind of dizzyness he had felt before on the House of Mirrors, it was more like those he had felt back in the hospital when he was still in rehab. His back started hurting horribly and his legs were almost shaking. Ru noticed there was something wrong with him.

"Are you ok?"

Hana took a hand to his face. He remembered all the different attractions he had gone to that day and then the warning his doctor had gave him: _Keep it calm or you might have a relapse and it will hurt_. 

"Shit my back…" he mumbled. Ru came nearer him.

"What's wrong?" he asked, getting really worried.

"Shit shit shit" Hana cursed as he tried to stand up straight, unsuccessfully. 'Not now, please, I *got* to settle things with him… not now please…' but his pleading wasn't heard, as he lost his balance and felt heavily to the floor. 

"Hana!!!" Rukawa called unconsciously as he ran next to Hanamichi and tried to hold him up.

"I'm sorry… honki…" the red head got to say before he fainted.

Almost finished (I swear =_=.) with the other lot… 

"Mitsui-saaaaaannn!!!!! Doko kaaa?! Mitsui-san!!!" Kogure shouted. He had lost Ryota and Akagi somewhere while searching for Haruko and her 'darling' all over the place. He was lost and alone. Perfect! And Ayako-san had said he had to get himself back to normal before 6 or else he would never remember who he was. Fine! It was past 6 and all he knew was his name and that he was falling for one of his supposed-to-be best friend's sister's boyfriend—a guy (Mitsui, bah). He was starting to get a little bit desperate by the simple though of that all. 

Ryota and Akagi were also searching for them. Akagi had tried to keep his calm on the basis both Haruko and Misui were acting strangely because of that stupid spell, but under its influences or not, this had gone much to far for him to take no action. If he had to literally beat common sense out of Mitsui, he would.

Back to poor sad megane, he was tired of following people arround so decided to take a break and calm down. He forced himself to a more open space were he could take some air and clear his thoughts. There was were he found them, still holding hands and walking rapidly, as if trying to avoid being seen by somebody.

'Shit' Kogure mentally cursed. He wanted to see everybody but them but then again his own common sense told him the correct thing to do rather than running away would be taking the couple back to the rest of the team.

"Mitsui-san!! Haruko-chan!!!" he called once more. There was something on Kogure's sweet voice that kept the happy couple from running away from him too. They both turned round and felt safer when they noticed he was alone.

"Kogure…" Mitsui started, looking onto the four-eyed boy glasses. Kogure returned a sad blue look.

"Where is everybody?" Haruko asked.

"Looking for you" was the answer.

"Hm… maybe we exagerated things a little bit" she said, grasping Mitsui's hand with hers.

Mitsui returned the gesture. "Hn" he said in agreement, keeping eye contact with Kogure, "But I'm not leaving you".

Haruko smiled sadly, for some reason. "Me either…"

"Tell them not to worry. We'll be OK. I'll take good care of her…" he said and turned round once more, with Haruko following his every step. Kogure saw them and felt he had to do something about it, before it was too late. Before he lost Mitsui for ever.

He closed his eyes for a second and though he had seen a day in the past when they were both in the gymn, fighting, and everyone was  there too. He remembered. He remembered having admired Hisashi Mitsui long ago when he was still on high school and having loved him passionately ever since then… he remebered the confession a few weeks after the fight. The fear of rejection, the anguish and the happiness he had felt when he got his answer back—'yes'. Everything, every single moment they had been toghether ever since that day showed  right in front of his eyes, making him remember how they kept their little secret and that almost-year-and-a-half relationship going on.

And now? He was about to lose all he cared for in his life.

"Mitsui please, don't leave!!" he begged, "Don't go, try to remember, don't leave me, please…". He felt exhausted of remembering everything all of a sudden and so felt to his knees, to the floor, tears in his eyes.

Mitsui freezed. That voice calling him like that broke his heart into a million pieces. Kogure sobbed and Mitsui let go off Haruko's hand. She didn't move, as she had seen Kogure's feelings on his eyes and knew there was nothing she could have done. (_Note: hm. Haruko is not supposed to be so perceptive ¬¬_)

Mitsui turned once more and walked towards Kogure.

"Ko—Kogure… what's wrong with you??"

"Hisashi, please, try to remember… please!!" he cried, wiping away the little tears that appeared from his gentle eyes.

Mitsui approached him, mumbling 'Don't cry, don't cry'. He knelt down besides him and then turned to Haruko, but she wasn't there.

"Please… I can't see you like this, please…" Kogure begged once more before bursting into tears again.

Mitsui embraced him strongly and felt his body under his own arms. His heart started beating fastly and then he knew. He loved him blindly with all his heart and soul.

"Don't cry… Min-kun. It's OK. I'm always here for you…"

(_Note2: aw that was so sweet ^^_)__

Now, Haruko:

Haruko walked away. She wasn't sad but you couldn't say she was exactly happy. She was just… somewhat down. She walked slowly and not really knowing were to go. Mitsui's jacket was over her arms and shoulders and she was holding to it strongly.

When she raised her head she met three familiar faces to wich she smiled warmly. The first of the three was a very tall and big young man to whom se ran and embraced trustfully.

"Oniichan!!" she said, sinking her face into Akagi's chest.

"Haruko!! Are you OK??" he asked very worried about his little sister. She nodded in return.

"Everybody is fine and everything's Ok… oniichan" she looked at Ayako who understood everything she had seen immediately.

"Phew! So we did have a happy ending after all…" she came near Haruko and patted her on he shoulder. Haruko let one tear roll down her face, but Ayako wipped it fast before Akagi could see it and started asking about what had just happened.

"Wanna have a girl to girl conversation?" the older girl asked.

"No, it's OK. Really" Haruko smiled. Her love for Rukawa's beatiful blue eyes and dark hair had made her fall for the wrong person, but she had enjoyed the few hours she had spent with what had most looked like a boyfriend in her whole life—at least up to that day.

"Let's go" she finally said as she started walking opposite where she had left Mitsui and Kogure. She kept on smiling all the way.

7:40 pm, Hospital

Rukawa was sitting in the waiting room of a nearby hospital. Ok, he wasn't _sitting_, he was walking, making small circles arround the room, nervously. The other few people there were about to kill him. He was breathing hardly, trying to calm himself down. Good thing there had been a hospital near that area, as he wasn't very sure were to take the red head after he had fainted just in front of the House of Mirrors.

A nurse emerged from the room where Hanamichi was and called Rukawa. He rushed to were she was and was let into the tiny room where, on a white bed under a small window, Hanamichi slept soundly.

Rukawa felt very relieved. He sound of the red head's breath told him he was at least alive. He found himself smiling once more, coming near Hana's bed. The nurse behind him opened the door for a doctor that came right next to Rukawa and put a hand over his shoulder.

"Don't worry, he will be ok. As you had his doctor's phone number with you, we could help him get better. Now he needs some rest. He will be spending a day or two here at the hospital…"

Rukawa nodded. He had found both his doctor's and family number in Hana's wallet and was able to figure out what was wrong with him. Now what was left was calling his family but he preferred to do that once he had talked with him.

"I'll leave you now. If you need anything, please don't hesitate and call the nurse" the doctor said before leaving.

"You might want to get some rest too, Rukawa-kun" the nurse added before closing the door behind her and leaving Rukawa and Hanamichi completely alone.

Ru waited until she had closed the door to sit beside Hana. It was weird to think some hours before the situation had been the same but the other way round. He motioned his fingers towards Hana's head and moved his red hair from his closed eyes. He wondered if the hair was real or if he had dyed it, though he couldn't get a picture of him in the bathroom dying his hair neatly.

He smiled again at the chibi image of Hana in he bathroom. He felt so much better now that he was sure he would be ok… he stood up and looked again at Hana. He doubted whether to… or maybe not…

He looked around making sure he was alone, and when he did he leaned slowly towards Hana and kissed him softly on the lips. He then turned arround. Hana smiled in his dreams.

"Baka kitsune…" he said

"I'll see you tomorrow, baka doahou…" Ru whispered, as he walked to the door and pulled a faint little smile on his lips as well.

Epilogue 

Next day after that, everybody had learned about Hana's problem. Rukawa had called Ayako telling her what had happened and for Sunday afternoon even Sendoh and Koshino were there on the hospital. Hanamichi had woken up somewhere in the morning just to find Rukawa drooling over the white sheets while he slept at his feet. His back hurt really badly but Rukawa being there somehow made his pain easier to carry. He couldn't recall the exact minute where he started liking Rukawa, but now he was sure of something—he wouldn't let him go just like that.

And to think that the realtionship of two people that used to hate each other could change like that within one day… though one very bizzarre day, that's it. He decided he liked Rukawa's smile so much that he would try to make him smile more, if possible. Though, off course, nothing is impossible for a genious like him. NYAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Later that day the team came to visit him. Ayako, Haruko and Ryota were there, as they couldn't locate Mitsui and Kogure (Ayako mentioned something as _celebrating first and a half anniversary_ and_ too much loving left them way too tired to come_ but nobody except for Haruko understood this so they preferred not to care) and Akagi had to stay home to study for one very difficult exam he had the next day. Koshino and Sendoh somehow got the news (never underestimate the power of a member of the Aida family—means they were friends of Hikochi, d'uh) and were there too (mostly because they wanted to make sure Rukawa was allright).

After arguing a while with the nurse that claimed Hana needed rest, not visit, they somehow managed to enter Hana's room, thanks specially to Sendoh's infallible technique to make women do what he wanted (much to everybody's amazement and Koshino's I-m-gonna-kill-you-Sendoh very present look). So the first three Shohoku people got to enter the room.

There ha was, lying bored on the bed, watching wrestling on TV. Rukawa was still sleeping on the same spot he had been the whole night and Youhei that had come a little earlier was there too. Hana had wanted to talk with him about certain stuff he believed to be important amd Youhei had given him his understanding and support.

"Please, don't tell the guys yet… I would preferr to tell them by myself… just to be sure I can headbut them if they laugh… nyahahaha"

Youhei sweatdropped ^^Uu "Count on me, man. I had it coming anyway.. hehe"

"¬¬ what do you mean?"

"I'm just joking!!!!!" Youhei answered nervously.

Then the door opened at least.

"Hanamichi Sakuraaaaaaaaaagiiiiiiiiii!!!!!!" said a womanly voice from the door, "Look who's here!! Konnichi wa!!!!!!!"

Ayako entered, followed by Ryota in his *in-love-with-Aya-chan mode* and Haruko.

"Good morning Sakuragi-kun" the later said with a smile. Youhei gave her a very significant look, and then he did the same with Rukawa. So that would be a very interesting thing to see…

"Haruko-san!" Hana said cheerfully as everybody was used to see him greet the small girl.

"^^ hi there. How do you feel?"

"Great because I am a tensai!! And better now that Haruko-san came to see this genious nyehehehehe!!"

"That is great! I'm really sorry your party had to end up like this…"

"It's ok, Haruko-san. It's nothing, really. My doctor said all I need is some rest and maybe next week or the other I'll be joining the team as ever!"

Haruko smiled and then turned at Rukawa. She blushed all of a sudden.

"'Rukawa-kun is here," she said inocently, "is he ok?"

"At least we know he is the old Rukawa for he called me yesterday to say everything was ok. And he is slepping like a tree so he must be fine…" Ayako answered.

Hanamichi turned his head towards Rukawa and smiled, only that this time he wasn't flashing his big, arrogant, self-confident smile. He was just grinning cutely and lovingly, and Haruko though he looked really sweet when he smiled in that way.

"He brought me here and sat there all night…" he explained absently, looking at the foxy guy with thankful eyes. The room was filled with silence then.

It was a beautiful sunny day and the birds outside sung cheerful melodies.

"Well, we better get going before that nurse eats Sendoh-san…" Ayako started.

"Yeah, and that _Hiro-kun_ beats the crap out of us for letting her do so" Ryota finished. 

"Get better Hanamchi Sakuragi, we'll be waiting for you at Shohoku!!"

"I better get going too, Hana" Youhei said, "the guys must be waiting for me at Pachinko…"

"Yeah you go help those lazy asses in, they can do nothing without you and the tensai, hm!"

Youhei smiled and followed Ryota and Ayako. Only Haruko was still  in there. She was looking right at the floor.

"Sakuragi-kun…"

"Yes?"

"I'm really sorry… for what happened with Mitsui-san yesterday. I know you tried to help me and I… I acted like a fool. I'm really sorry…"

"Ha—Haruko-san!! Don't say that, please!!" Hana said, worrying for who used to be his beloved one. He turned to her in order to give her some confort but while doing this he accidentaly kicked Rukawa's head and woke him up. Bad thing to do, never *ever* disturb Rukawa while he is sleeping.

 "Ru… Rukawa… oops" Hana said. Rukawa grumbled.

"I won't forgive people who bother me while I'm trying to get some sleep…" he calimed half asleep in his very Rukawa like monotonous voice. Fortunately haruko was there to save the day.

"Rukawa-kun!!" she almost cried, getting beet red on the face.

"Huh?" Who was she? Wait, he knew her name, he was terrible at names but… what was her's again?, "Haruko, ne?"

"Y…y…y…ye…yes…s…!". Hana gave her the sad look every person has when they are looking at somebody they love and still know they haven't got the slightest chance with. Rukawa noticed this and so stood up automatically. He knew this could mean losing Hana, but…

"I'll leave you alone…" he said. Hanamichi looked at him surprisedly. He nderstood what Rukawa ment, and this was probably the last chance he would get in his whole life of confessing to Haruko, and still…

Rukawa gave one step in direction to the door but then felt one strong hand grab him by the wrist.

"No, wait" Hana demanded, holding Rukawa, "Haruko-san was just going…"

Rukawa looked at Hana with surprise in his eyes. The girl stood up too, smiling.

"That's right, Ayako-san must be waiting outside so I better get going too. I really hope you'll get better Sakuragi-kun. Jya! Bye, Rukawa-kun, see you tomorrow." With that, Haruko disappeared  out of the room. 

The two guys kept quite for a while, until Rukawa broke the silence.

"I though you--"

"I had to make a choice. And I don't really care what her choice was back then, cause now I choose you".

He still had Rukawa's wrist tight in his hand, so he pulled the black haired boy to where he was, untill he got him sitting on the bed, right beside him.

"Suki dakara. I love you" he said while he embraced Rukawa.

"Me too… but now do me a favour and get some rest…"

Hana closed his eyes and searched playfully for Rukawa's mouth with his lips. Rukawa was trying to say something when he found them, and then once more he surrendered to the kiss, opening his mouth and letting the red head kiss him once again, passionately.

They made sure the door was correctly closed and kept on kissing savagely for some time, until they were so tired and breathless they had to stop and get some _real_ rest. For Hana's back's sake at least.

They lied on the bed for the rest of the night, embraced. And smiling.

_When the fire goes out,_

_When the crystal turns black,_

_The spell will be cast._

_Tabula rasa,_

_Tabula rasa,_

_Tabula rasa._

~ Owari ~ The end ~ 

_Yumi Rukawa October 22nd / 2002_

**Yumi says: Ok so rukawa *was* a lil' bit Out of character, but hey! He had lost his mind and like *was* supposed to be… rite?? @_@. Anyway, it wasn't THAT bad, rite??? R/R and tell me of you liked it ^_^. Plzzzz!!!!! And, Oh, I just couldn't help the SenKosh part… they are sooooooooooo cute ^_______^.


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